Gestapo Division Arrives in Hungary with Orders to Exterminate All Remaining Jews

October 17, 1944

LONDON (Oct. 16)

With Budapest controlled by German troops, it was reported here today from reliable Hungarian sources in Stockholm that a special division of Nazi Elite units has arrived in the Hungarian capital with orders to exterminate the remaining 300,000 Jews in the country. Another division is en route, the report stated.

From Switzerland it was reported today that the Basler National Zeiturig says that “very reliable sources” reveal that the deportation of Jews from Hungary is to be resumed and that two transports of 150,000 Jews each are being prepared. The Swiss newspaper added that the deported Jews are being sent “to slaughter houses and extermination camps.”

The Swiss paper appeals to the Pope “not to remain indifferent to events in a country that is especially close to the Vatican.” It refers to the protests against German extermination of Jews made during the summer by the Swiss Government and by the Red Cross and adds that the Swiss people “expect from their government that, in this case, too, we shall not fail to do what we can within the limits of our powers to prevent the war from taking on unnecessary cruel forms.”

The Polish Government-in-Exile today announced that contrary to international law, the Germans collected 2,000 Jewish soldiers from various camps for Polish war prisoners and exterminated them in the Majdanek gas chambers last November. The announcement added that last February 2,000 Jewish forced laborers from Hungary were also brought to Majdanek “apparently for extermination.”

Meanwhile, it is reported that one provision of the armistice terms offered Hungary by the Soviet Government, on behalf of itself, the United States and Great Britain, stipulated that all anti-Semitic measures must be withdrawn. The armistice was about to be accepted by Regent Horthy yesterday, when both he and the entire cabinet were replaced by the Germans who rushed troops to Budapest.